A lot of the reviews I’ve read say it’s either an origin or an ending. I went in thinking of it as an origin story. For someone that isn’t reading the comic books and following the storylines, I didn’t want that to take away from the film. X-Men: Dark Phoenix was not terrible, but it also wasn’t girl-power infused film like you might think it would be. There’s more darkness than light, even though there are a lot of blinding moments.
JF_5100_v0014_SNL.1001 – Sophie Turner stars as Jean Grey in Twentieth Century Fox’s DARK PHOENIX. Photo Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox.
Becoming Jean Grey
As I mentioned above, what I know about Jean Grey is what I’ve seen in the X-Men film franchise. I’m sure I’ll get pelted with peanuts, but it’s the truth. I was excited to learn more about Jean, so I went in hoping for an origin story. You get the quick version of her story, but I’d say the parts that matter and how James Xavier is also important to her story.
What I liked
So it wasn’t all bad, but the cool flashy scenes helped with the plot issues. We get a look at how Jean Grey became the Phoenix and it’s very cool. The fight scenes were great too. There is a fight scene that happens on a train that has some really impressive action sequences. If you are into sy-fy films, you’ll enjoy it. It had a lot of really cool cosmic scenes, like the image below.
BV_0150_v0028_SNL.1231 – Sophie Turner and Jessica Chastain in Twentieth Century Fox’s DARK PHOENIX. Photo Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox.
You get a glimpse of what happens in Jean’s story and why she is the way she is. Like I mentioned above, I went into the theater looking for an origin story. I wanted to learn more about Jean and like her even more. Since this is the beginning of the X-Men, we also learn about the rest of the crew.
My Issues with Dark Phoenix
Being female, I love a good film that empowers women and makes us the heroes that we truly are. We don’t need men to fix us, we are the fixers. While we see a lot of Jean Grey and the other females being total badasses in a lot of the scenes there is a lot of the plot of the film that falls on the men helping Jean manage her power or being there to pick her up etc. You know saving the lost girl or damsel in distress bullshit. The fact that Charles Xavier gets into her head is one thing, you’ll see if you watch the film my issue with that. Does it add to the story? Absolutely, but Jean is never able to truly deal with her issues because a man is keeping her from herself.
Raven played by Jennifer Lawrence also comes to a few moments where she realizes what is happening and tries to leave. The opportunities for female empowerment fell way short in this film, those are my main issues with it. I need women kicking butt and being the voice of reason, but I didn’t write the film so I got what I got.
TR_0130_v0087_MPC.1023 – L-R: Tye Sheridan, James McAvoy, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Alexandra Shipp in Twentieth Century Fox’s DARK PHOENIX. Photo Credit: Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox.
Okay for Kids?
We all went to see Dark Phoenix, myself the hubs and our boys (ages 12 &7). Ezra began to fidget during the film and ended up sitting on me a few times. There was some kissing scenes but nothing too risque and I don’t recall too much vulgar language. I would say it is ok for ages 7 and up, if they are used to the fighting and that type of violence. If they are not, I would skip X-Men: Dark Phoenix and watch it with older children.
End Credit Extras
Unlike most Marvel films, DP did not have any end credit extras like we are used to. I didn’t have a chance to ask anyone that had screened it if there were any so we sat there and waited. There were others that also waited and when we got to the end and saw nada, they all kind of said the same thing, “Ok, I guess there’s nothing at the end. Oh well.” So I guess it was closing and not an opening for the X-Men film.
